March 24, 2013

Monday morning we left the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin and headed east up the Caloosahatchee River towards the Franklin Lock.  The river starts to narrow and become less populated as we got closer to the Franklin Lock.  The locks on the Okeechobee Waterway are operated differently from the locks we have experienced on our trip so far.  They raise or lower the water level in these locks by just opening the gate and letting the water in or out.  We have been told that it can be a tough to deal with the current if you are the boat nearest the gate when it opens.  Today we are the only boat that is in the lock, the Lockmaster left us well back on the wall away from the opening gate and with only going up 2 feet, it was a comfortable ride.

Since we left Marathon our trip has been dictated by the weather.  There has been a lot of cold fronts moving down from the north and with them high winds and waves from the north through northwest. This has forced us to move north faster then we had planned, this is about to change.  At the west end of the Franklin lock is the W.P. Franklin Campground and Marina which is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and staffed by volunteers.  So 14 miles after leaving the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin we tied up at a slip with water and electric for $24.00 a night ($12.00 for people over 65).  They check ID ! The Campground is really quiet and the Marina is well protected in a basin just to the north side of the park. 

Just as we tied up, one of the park volunteers showed us a 2’ baby alligator  that was living under our finger dock and told us about the 8’ mother that lived mostly on the other side of the basin.  Dave spent the rest of the week trying to get a picture of the baby (he was very skittish).  They also have some different types of shore birds here, one that made wailing sounds starting early in the morning.

Our plan was to stay a few days here before going on, but we liked it so much we stayed 7 nights. 

Time 2 Go at Franklin Campground & Marina

Different shore birds

More different shorebirds, the dark one is really noisy

2' Alligator living next to us at the dock

Turtle sat on this submerged log all week

Anne standing under a Bottlebrush Tree

March 17, 2013

Monday night we had dinner with Marilyn and thanked her for her hospitality and said our goodbyes.  

The next morning we left for Fort Myers Beach.  The weather was so-so, calling for rain in the afternoon but with the wind out of the south, we were able to make good time at 6 1/2 to 7 knots most of the way.  We arrived at Moss Marine about 2 pm. and shortly after the wind speed picked up and started coming out of the northwest and it stayed that way for the next 2 days.  The tidal current in this area is very strong and when the current is going in the opposite direction to the wind, it makes it a little uncomfortable sitting at the dock.   We had thought of moving to the mooring field but with the weather conditions,  currents and the long distance to the dinghy dock, it didn’t seem like a good option.   

We toured around Fort Myers Beach, looking at all the t-shirt shops, walking on the beach, and seeing all the March breakers, it reminded us of a larger version of Grand Bend near home.  It was fun to watch the kids on the beach, the girls all trying to look ‘hot’ and the guys all trying to look ‘cool’.  We sure felt old.

Friday the wind died down and changed direction slightly, so we decided to head up the Caloosahatchee River to North Fort Myers.  This is the start of the Okeechobee Waterway.  We were glad it was a short trip as the water temperature had dropped to the mid-60’s, this combined with the wind, made for a cool trip (wore our foul-weather gear).  We wanted to stop in North Fort Myers to visit with friends from Kincardine, so we reserved a slip at the City of Fort Myers Yacht Basin.  The staff at the Yacht Basin couldn’t have been friendlier or more helpful.  The City of North Fort Myers is trying to restore and promote it’s old downtown core, so there is a lot of services and conveniences for boaters staying here, including a free bus service.   

We met up with our friends, Jim and Bev Saturday morning.  We had a nice visit and they gave us a tour of the area, showing us Fort Myers, where they keep the plane, and their condo.  All over Florida we have seen homes on canals for the boaters to keep their boats in their backyards, where Jim and Bev keep their airplane is an aviator’s version of that.  Bev’s uncle’s home, where they keep the airplane, has an airplane hangar right beside the house.  When they want to fly in their airplane, they taxi down the road in this gated community to the airstrip.  It’s a pretty nice set-up.  We had a very enjoyable day with them. 

  Sunday was St. Patrick’s Day and Fort Myers had a large party planned.  They closed off a 2 block section of the downtown core and had several bands playing, special Irish foods at the different restaurants and, of course, green beer.  We wandered around listening to the bands and having fun just people watching.  There were some interesting sights. 

Saying Goodbye to our friend Marilyn on Marco Island

Strange looking Catamaran on Caloosahatchee River

Spring Breakers at Fort Myers Beach 67 degrees F.

Fort Myers Water front and Marina

Our friends from Kincardine Bev and Jim in Fort Myers. 

St Patrick's Day Fort Myers

St Patrick's Day Fort Myers

March 10, 2013

We have decided to head to Indiantown, where we will leave the boat for the summer via the west coast of Florida.  People have been telling us how protected the waters are on the west coast, due to the prevailing winds having to cross the land mass.  

We said our good-byes to Jay, Tino, Carla, Dave, Sal and Ina on Wednesday and prepared to leave at high tide.  We made it over the low spot in the channel and out into the Atlantic, heading for Boot Key at the west end of Marathon.  The wind had swung around on us and came directly from the west on the nose, making it a rough and choppy ride.  We arrived late in the afternoon at Boot Key Harbor and got a mooring ball for 2 nights, as the weather was not expected to improve.  

Early Friday morning we left Boot Key Harbor and headed west to the Seven Mile Bridge, then north into the Gulf of Mexico.   We noticed the water was really green, probably due to it being very clear and only about 7 to 12 feet deep.  Our goal for the day was to anchor off the beach in the Florida Everglades National Park.  The trip across, is the first time that we have been out of sight of land on our trip down from Canada.  The wind swung around on us in the afternoon and went from the Northeast to the Northwest, making our beach anchorage impossible.  So we went to plan “B”, both Jay and Sal had told us about the Little Shark River anchorage so we changed course and headed for it.  About half a mile up the river, around the first bend, the wind was gone and the water calm, blocked by thick mangroves along the entire river, making it a very quiet and peaceful anchorage.  

Our goal for Saturday was to sail to Marco Island, a journey of about 55 miles.  Our friend, Jay, had contacted Marilyn, a lady we had met at Coral Lagoon Resort in Marathon, whose condo on Marco Island had a dock that we could use for free.  We arrived there late in the afternoon and after winding our way up the channel, it sure was nice to see Marilyn waving to us from the end of the dock.  

Sunday morning Marilyn took us for a tour of Marco Island, showing us different points of interest.  A large part of Marco Island, is land that has been reclaimed from dredging canals, so that people can have boats in their backyards.  She also showed us a couple of spots that had not been developed, but preserved.  The first, was the remnants of a foundation of a hotel that had sat on the highest point of Marco Island, even though overgrown, it was easy to imagine the view.  The second was called Otter Mound Preserve.  Here someone had built retaining walls from thousands of conch shells.  It wasn’t possible to tell what the purpose of the walls had been, but it was incredible to see the large number of conch shells used in this manner.  We had our lunch on the beach and went for a long walk.  The sand on the beach is really white and powdery and full of shells, unlike the more coarse, granular sand we saw on the east coast.  We finished off the afternoon in the hot tub and pool at Marilyn’s condo complex.  She cooked us a delicious supper and we had a nice evening visiting. 

Heading to the Seven Mile Bridge and the Gulf of Mexico

Sunrise in the Little Shark River anchorage

Mangrove Swamp at the Little Shark River, Everglades National Park

Retaining walls built of conch shells

The beach on Marco Island

March 3, 2013

Two new boats and two new couples, Sal and Ina, and Tino and Carla have arrived on the dock this week.  The one couple is from Picton, Ontario, and when we helped them dock, Sal’s first question was ‘Does anybody play guitar here?’  It turned out we had 2 guitar players on the dock, that sounded really nice with his harmonicas.  This led to several pot luck suppers, jam sessions, sing-alongs, and a lot of enjoyable evenings during the week.   

On Wednesday we were invited to go lobstering on Carla and Tino’s fishing boat.  Dave was interested in learning how it was done and where to look for lobsters, so we took them up on their invitation.  Tino took us over to the Gulf side of the Island to start on some of the spots on his GPS, that he had marked from his last trip.  What we were looking for was small clearings in the sea grass that had some kind of rock formation that the lobsters could hide under.   When we found a spot that looked like it had some potential, Tino would dive over the side for a better look.  If he spotted lobsters, we would get in the water and help try to find them, usually you would see an antenna sticking out from under a ledge.  To get them out, he would use a tickle stick to try and touch the lobsters tail at the back of the hole and make them shoot out of the hole and into his net.  Tino made it look a lot easier than it really was because when the lobster decide to come out of the holes, they move really fast.  In spite of this, we returned to the dock at the end of the day with 15 legal sized lobster.  It was a beautiful day on the water and a good pot luck lobster supper.  

Our time here is coming to an end and we have to start thinking about heading north next week.  Our friends have suggested for us that it would be possible to go up the west coast of Florida to Fort Myers.  We would then travel the canals to Lake Okeechobee to Indiantown.  This would eliminate having to go through all the bridges between Miami and Lake Worth.  We are researching it.


  

Impromptu dock party and music night

The head lobster guy

Florida Spiny Lobster aka. supper

Dave getting ready to clean the propeller 

February 24, 2013

We have been enjoying our time here in Marathon.  It is quite different, going to the pool and relaxing on our boat, from sailing Time 2 Go to different destinations everyday.  We still have things that we want to see and do in this area, one of those being John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.  We arranged to do that on Wednesday.  

We rented a car for Wednesday morning and drove, about an hour north to Key Largo.  Dave had hoped to snorkel on the reefs and the wreck at the Park.  When we arrived, the weather did not co-operate, being cloudy, cool, windy and a 2 foot chop on the reef.  So we decided to do the Glass bottom boat tour out on one of the reefs.  This turned out to be a good choice, as our 2 tour guides narrating were extremely knowledgeable about the different kinds of coral, sponges, and different reef fish.  They also were able to point out the not so common sites, such as Spiny lobsters and a Hawksbill turtle.  It was an enjoyable trip.  

When we returned to shore from the Glass bottom boat tour, we had hoped to snorkel on a 16th century shipwreck that was right off the beach.  We were unable to find the location so we spoke to a Park ranger, and found out that it wasn’t a shipwreck, but an “authentic replica” of a 16th century shipwreck.  They had dropped some cannons and a few boards in the water, in the swimming area, so we didn’t bother putting on our new wetsuits and snorkeling out to see them.  However, overall, it was a fun day.  

When we were planning this trip south, we joined an association called ‘The America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association’.  They are group of people who travel all, or parts of the circle route, down the Mississippi, around Florida, up the eastern seaboard, back to the Great Lakes, Trent-Severn Waterways and North Channel.  Their website and web forum are a help in planning a trip our’s on any part of this route.  This association had a Sunset Celebration planned for Thursday night in Marathon at the Banana Bay Resort and we were going!  This was a potluck supper, with a band (boaters from the marina who had some kind of musical instrument, that they thought they could play).  We went with a friend of ours from our marina, who also belonged to the Association, and met a lot of fellow cruisers.  One of the first we met, had done the loop 3 or 4 times and now was sailing the canals of France, who turned out to be from Guelph.  Yes, in Ontario, it is a small world.  

The Upper Keys Rotary Club holds an annual Nautical Flea Market every year in Islamorada.  It was being held this weekend, so we arranged for a rental car with a friend at the Marina.  We went early Sunday morning and toured around the different booths - it was huge!  Although it was the second day and things were picked over, the final score was Dave - one shirt, Anne - 2 dresses.  This event is a really great fundraiser.  We headed back to the Marina around lunch and had agreed to help our friend, Dave, take his powerboat for fuel.  When we arrived back, another friend Jay was taking his catamaran to Coffin Patch Reef for an afternoon of snorkeling.  Our friend, Dave thought we should go snorkeling on our way to get the fuel, we never made it for fuel.  We had a great afternoon snorkeling on the reef and seeing many of the fish and coral, that we had seen on the Glass bottom boat tour, earlier in the week.  

Glass Bottom Boat at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Aquarium at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

Lion fish at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park

AGLCA Sunset Celebration. Dave & Cruiser from Guelph

Snorkeling at Coffin Patch reef

Cotton Patch Reef

February 17, 2013

Our first week here at Coral Lagoon has gone quickly, with a few minor projects completed along with our usual routine jobs of groceries, laundry etc.  The temperatures have been very warm and our afternoons have been spent cooling off at their pool.  

We decided to rent a car on Tuesday and drive down to Key West and see what it was like.  We were glad that we decided to drive, rather than sail the boat down.  There did not appear to be any facilities nearby such as grocery stores, that would be convenient for boaters.  The Fleming Key anchorage, that had been recommended to us, had been turned into a mooring field and the docks in Key West were very expensive.  There wasn’t many of either, docks or mooring balls available.  

The trip down, U.S. #1, the Overseas Highway was long, flat, straight and runs parallel to the remnants of the old railway line, that originally joined the Keys.  Large stretches of this highway are made up of  causeways, one of the longest being Seven Mile Bridge.  

We drove just to the edge of the new part of Key West, parked the car and boarded a Trolley Tour.  The tour guides were great for giving you some of the local history and trivia of the area and letting you know things to see and do.  One of the facts they shared was when the original railroad was built in the early 1900’s, Mr. Flagler spent $69 million of his own money to build it, this would be the equivalent to somebody privately financing the Alaska Pipeline today!  The Trolley Tours allow you to get off and on at all their stops around the Key, as often as you want.  Our first stop was the obligatory picture at the southern most point in the U.S.  Ernest Hemingway’s house was only a few blocks away so we decided to walk, rather than get back on the trolley.  We toured his home and saw descendants of the 6 toed cats that lived there prior to Ernest Hemingway.  The sea captain that originally built the home, believed 6 toed cats would bring good luck.  The grounds and swimming pool were beautifully landscaped.   We got back on the trolley and went to Mallory Square.  Mallory Square is an area of gift shops and eateries where we hoped to take care of two more obligatory things we had to do in Key West.  Conch fritters for lunch and Key lime pie for dessert, both were delicious and now ticked off the list!  We found out here why there were so many line ups everywhere, there was a large cruise ship tied up here for the day.  After touring some of the shops, we hopped back on the trolley and finished the tour and headed back to Marathon.  

The rest of our week ended the same as it started, more routine jobs and the afternoons spent at the pool.  Not much stress happening here this week.

Obligatory picture at the southern most point in the U.S.A.

Six toed cat in Hemingway's living room.

The room over Hemingway's garage where he would go to write.

Statues in front of theater in Mallory Square.

The reason for the large line ups in Key West.

Our afternoon delight!

      

February 10, 2013

We left Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park Monday morning.  The ICW heads south between Florida’s mainland and the Keys, but is so shallow, it is not recommended for any boat that draws more than 4 feet.  The alternative route is called Hawk Channel, not really part of the ICW but the only option for deeper draft vessels, such as ours.  It runs south on the east side of the Keys, between the Keys and the barrier reef.  This is our first time back on the Atlantic since we went down the coast of New Jersey and probably the most we’ve used the sails since our time on the Chesapeake Bay.  It was a beautiful day and we had great sailing.  The water is different here from what we’ve seen - it has beautiful shades of aqua  and is very clear.  Forty-nine statute miles later we dropped the anchor on the north side of Rodriguez Key.  This is the closest we’ve been able to get to any of the Keys as the water in and around the Keys and harbours is too shallow for our 5 and a half foot draft.  When people with boats like ours head south, they can only use this anchorage and just pick the side of the Key that gives you the best protection from the wind.

Tuesday morning started out as another good sailing day with 10 knot winds pushing us farther south.  However, around 12:00 noon the winds died and we started seeing more crab pots.  The afternoon was spent dodging crab pots, while trying to maintain our course to Boot Key, Marathon.  Our goal had been to pick up a mooring ball in Boot Key, Marathon, but when we arrived, there was a waiting list, so we anchored near the mooring field.  People we had spoken to in Coconut Grove mentioned that they got a really good deal on a dock at the Coral Lagoon Resort The Boat House Marina.  So Dave contacted them and the price was about the same as the mooring field at Boot Key Harbor.  The Marina sounded good but due to shoaling, the channel would require local knowledge to get us into it so the harbor master put us in touch with the only other sailboater in the marina.  

After speaking to Jay (the other sailboater) the following morning, we decided to wait until high tide at 5 pm, before trying to enter the channel to the harbour.  We left Boot Key Harbor around 2:30 pm to give us enough time to cover the 5 miles (wind right on the nose and dodging crab pots all the way) back north to the channel.  When we arrived, we contacted Jay and he guided us in by driving to different points in his truck, where he could watch us as we followed the channel in.  He was a great help, we couldn’t have got in without his help. 

We have spent the rest of this week trying to get oriented to the area.  Shopping and laundromat are a taxi ride away... Key West does not look like it would be worth 2 days sailing to go to and back.  Our plan is to stay here and use this marina as a base to site see up and down the Keys.  

Lighthouse at Bill Baggs State Park

Houses built on stilts near No Name Harbor known as Stiltsville
No longer allowed to build like this in the Keys

Sunset at Rodriguez Key

Boot Key Harbor Mooring Field and anchorage.
Busy spot!

Our dock at Coral Lagoon Resort Boat House Marina.
Quiet spot!